Category: Learn how to read body language

Body language of yawning: It never seems to fail that you are in a meeting and the guy next to you yawns but does it covertly and the next thing that you know you too are yawning.

So first off are yawns contagious?

You bet they are..

Is there a nonverbal communication to yawning?

Yes and no.

There are plenty of reasons why a man or woman yawns and depending upon the circumstances its harmless to annoying. You may see people yawn:

·From boredom

·As an automatic response to someone else who has yawned or out or just watching caused by rapport or empathy

·When someone is tired or hot

As with any body language reading out in the field whether in business, dating or in your personal life it is a good idea to baseline the situation to make sure that your reaction or your question is correct.

Body language of yawning and boredom

When was the last time that you were bored in a meeting, on a date or even sitting with your boyfriend or girlfriend and they yawned and you took it that they were not too excited to be there with you? You make a comment your body language changes you react, they then react and the next thing you know this innocent nonverbal action turns into an argument.

Now yawning may be from boredom but chances are if you are with an adult they know that it is not polite to yawn when another person is talking or interacting with another man woman or child.

Now there are some nonverbal signs that would be considered rude and that is when a man woman or child goes out of their way to show off while they yawn. It may be that there is a speaker or teacher who is talking and the subject is not that interesting or the person just does it to be rude.

In some instance you may be able to pick up on some micro expressions to see what the man or the woman is thinking. In some instances the person who is yawning to create some attention may keep looking at their watch and or the door as a sign that they have better or other places to be.

Body language of yawning and an automatic reaction?

Now what if yawning were an automatic reaction and you couldn’t stop yourself from automatically doing what the other person around you is doing. This may be a conditioned response out of empathy triggered by mirror neuronsbut that is not 100% accurate.

There are times where you are watching television or a movie and an actor yawns and it may trigger you to yawn in this case it would be an automatic reaction. A more likely situation is that a person near you yawns and it triggers you to yawn.

It has been figured that around age 4 is when yawing starts to be contagious to children and when this reaction does not happen it may be a clue that the child has some disorders because they should be an automatic reaction.

Body language of yawning and being tired or hot

There are plenty of theories why men or women yawn and one of them is that their need to be an increase blood to the brain or to keep the temperature of the brain down (University of Albany 2007). There is also a theory that there are neurotransmitters that trigger a yawn in order to help speed up the body to keep from getting tired. Now it may even be a triggered response to being hot and working on cooling the body down.

Just remember that whatever you believe a yawn means may cause you to react to a man or woman around you in a way that could be right or wrong so be sure to read the situation correctly.

There are some animals that yawning is contagious to:

·Cats big or small

·Dogs

·Horses

Body language of yawning and ancient cultures.

Some ancient cultures believe that when men or women yawn the soul is trying to escape and the action of covering the mouth helps keep the soul from exiting the body. Now this may be the truth but it’s not likely from a scientific standpoint.

No matter what you believe about the body language of yawns there is one cool tip that you can use when people are over and you wan them to leave. Yawn and get up then tell them its time for you to go to bed. In most cases they get this overly overt body language action and leave so you can go to bed.

Reading body language: While reading the body language of men or women you may find a few traits that will reveal some of the information about them that you can interpret to understand how to interact with them.

When it comes to nonverbal communication and the clues that it gives you can read whether a man or woman has confidence or lacks it.

When reading the body language to determine the confidence level you will want to look at a few items:

·The head

·The face

·The shoulders and arms

·The walk

·General body movements

Body language of the head and lack of confidence

When a man or woman lacks confidence they may walk or move around with their head down or you may see that the chin becomes closer to the chest. This does not always happen it is just one of the signs or items that may or may not occur. In some instances the man or woman will not make eye contact

Body language of the face and the lack of confidence

The face may reveal some of the signs of lack of confidence though micro expressions and it could be through sadness. You may see the face pointed down and a possible pucker on the face. As with any part of reading body language you may or may not see this action and it may or may not combine with the other signals of the body. You may see a frown or even a scowel on the face.

Lack of confidence and the shoulders and arms

When a man or woman lacks confidence their shoulders may roll in. This may or may not be disguised by folded arms. You may notices the body movements are not fluid.

Walking and the lack of confidence

While reading the nonverbal signs of a man or women to determine the confidence or the lack of confidence one of the “tells” that may give away what is going on may be the walk or the speed of the walk. Sometimes when people lack confidence they walk slower or lose their fluid motion or stride.

Body movements that give away lack of confidence

As you watch a man or woman and baseline their actions nonverbally you may notice a few things or you may just see one item that could help you determine or give you clues as to what is going on. The hands and the movements of the body can give away many of these clues and when looking for confidence or the lack of confidence these two items can help. When there is the possibility of the lack of confidence not only is it possible for the man or the woman to lose their stride while they walk but they may also lose the fluid movements of the body. It is a possibility that the movements may become slower or jerky when confidence is lost.

You may even see the man or the woman to do what they can to cover their face when there is some stressful moments but this not always happen.

Baseline your body language reading

When reading the body language of others it is important to take the time to look and see what is going on in the surroundings but also to take a moment to read what the man or the woman is doing. Be patient and take your time because if you read a situation wrong you may notice that the reaction can create some issues. Most of the time the body language can give you a general idea of what is going on but remember there are times where you can be wrong so take you time.

Body language of a smile: It doesn’t matter where you go in the world there are a few things that are universal:

·Coca Cola

·Traffic

·Smiles

Now when it comes to other people you may not have the ability to speak their language but the universal sign and signal of approval is the smile. You know that whatever language you speak the smile is the gateway into others.

Body language of real smiles:

To learn about real smiles and how to understand them we will have to take a short trip to France. Its ok it will just take the time of this paragraph. You can thank a Dr. for Neurology as we know it today and that would be Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (1806 – 1875).

Dr. Duchenne is the father of neurology as we know it. When you see a real or genuine smile you can have some inside knowledge and know that the Duchenne smile was named after him.

There are a few traits when understanding the nonverbal communication of a smile and also to know if it is a real smile that you are reading:

·The corners of the lips will pull back

·The eyes will create crows feet wrinkles

When you read or interpret a real smile you will see the corners of the lips pull back towards the ears. When a man or women gives a genuine smile you will see crow’s feet or wrinkles at the corners of the eye. As age sets in on both men and women these crow’s feet become more pronounced.

Body language of a fake smile:

When you are reading into the nonverbal signs of a smile you will want to look at the corners of the lips and or the cheeks. The cheeks may raise in the case of a fake smile depending on the man or the woman .

In some instances a fake or generated smile may look more like surprise than a smile.

Most people cannot successfully fake a “genuine” smile and that is great news for you because you know when you interpret a genuine smile there is high probability it is real. One could guess it is a natural defense mechanism built over time to defend real emotions.

(video coming soon and goes here)

Body language and learning how to read it:

Reading the signs of a real smile is a great place to learn how to read body language. A great place to look into and increase your capabilities is to look at photos or videos of men, women and kids smiling in order to get your baseline of this nonverbal communication skill. You can go places where people would have real smiles and get a feel for what they look like and you could also just observe people at dinner where on a weekend night you can see just about every human emotion and or micro expression possible.

It is important for you to know what your body language is doing so why not video tape yourself so you can see for yourself what you are doing when you communicate with others. See if you can give a real or Duchenne smile when you don’t want to and then you can also see what it looks like when you fake this experience.

Body Language of surprise: When reading the body language of men or women and looking for surprise there are a few facial expressions to look at:

·Eyes

·Eyebrows

·Mouth

When you want to understand or even how to tell when a man or woman is surprised there are a few things that they will do with their micro expressions. You will see the eyebrows lift up, the eyes will open and the mouth will open.

When dealing with micro expressions is good to note that they may last for a fraction of a second. They may not last long at all. The facial expressions can give up the information needed of the emotions so that you can interpret the nonverbal cues given.

The body language of surprise may happen for so many different reasons. In any given circumstance whether for a man or a woman the signs and signals will all be the same.

Body language of the hands while surprised

When a man or a woman is surprised you may see their hands lift, the hands may go in front of the core of the body to protect vital organs. It’s not uncommon in most instances whether surprise or fear for the hands to start to protect the body.

Body language of the feet while surprised

The body language of feet while surprised may jolt and even sometimes come off the ground, in some instances the man or the woman may jump. This jump may be a border line of fear in some instances.

Body language of surprise locations

Some of the places or locations that you would see a woman or man surprised could be:

·At a party

·At a sporting event

·At a child’s birth

·When meeting someone like a celebrity

·When finding an item or a token

·At a chance of luck like gambling

There are plenty of places where the nonverbal communication of surprise can be seen. When dealing with someone who may be under investigation their body language should at first show surprise and then fear. When in this order the man or woman would be saying through their signs and signals they were not expecting the issue to happen. The facial expressions would give away if they were telling the truth or if they were lying. The micro expression of surprise is telling in a way that people cannot control. In the case of a lie or lying this tip may just give up the “tell” or rouse instantly.

Body language and working with a baseline

When dealing with any body language it is always a good idea to watch the situation or the conversation for a moment to baseline what is going on especially if there is anything on the line that can later cause problems or issues. Being patient when interpreting body language is usually the most difficult for people who are new when it comes to learning how to interpret nonverbal communication.

Reading body language: When it comes to learning how to read body language and nonverbal communication like an expert you do have a few ways to get your hands on the information that gives you the edge of knowing what people are thinking.

Knowing how to read body language of women or men can almost seem like you are psychic and know how to read minds when others see you in action

There are a few options for you to get the most out of learning the skills of reading body language. The few places that you can gather information are:

For today the focus will be on the last item and that is through your own work and research. You will find that it is easier than you think when it comes to learning how to read body language of women or men because most of the skills needed you already have.

This body language exercise requires that you have 2 or more people available and some time to learn the nonverbal actions of emotions. You will want to set aside some time possibly grab a video camera so that you can record your own coursework for later use and also for a way to watch your own body language. Your eyes may be opened up as to what the nonverbal actions when you have an emotion in the presence of others.

Body language and how to learn how to read it

Reading body language exercise: here is what you will need:

·Index cards

·A pen

·A list of emotions

What you will do is list each emotion on the index cards and draw them out randomly.

You and your partner or partners will act out each emotion on the card as you draw them. You will want the emotions random so that you do not have time to prepare for the action you have drawn. You will want this exercise to be as real as possible.

You will watch each person act out the emotion that is drawn noting what they do with their body, where there proximity is, what their facial features do when they act out the emotion. Note internally as many details as possible because these small actions or micro expressions will be needed later.

Reading body language like an expert and how to learn the body language of others

Now this exercise may sound simple but it will give you a good idea as to what you need to watch for while watching others. You need to learn how to read body language not just from watching others in the form of media but also in real life.

Sometimes the person or the people working with you will not accurately depict the emotion that they draw. You will determine what is off with their body language and make a note of it.

Reading body language and how to learn how to read the body language of women and men

As you learn real time what is going on it will make it easier for you to learn how to read body language of men or women form a home study course or even from reading a book on body language. Body language experts learn real time along with from courses and coaches

Your ability to not just act out the emotion with your body but also being able to feel the emotions will give you an upper edge over others who have just learned from a book or anything else of the nature. For those who do not take the time to learn what their body is saying while communicating they will “leak” their true intentions or emotions before they even come out of their mouths.

This body language exercise is meant to supplement other work in order to help you understand and interpret what others are doing with their bodies.

As a side note you will want to note that as you work with the person or group things may get tense when you act out emotions such as anger, frustration or disgust they may have a reaction negatively to you. Remind them that this is an exercise to learn how to read body language and nothing personal.